Working parents' favourite Explore Learning has increased its price to £50m
after a clutch of private equity firms expressed an interest in buying it.

The education group has attracted the attention of Inflexion, which part-owns high street favourite Jack Wills, and Bomark Capital, which has backed restaurant chain Las Iguanas and financial services firm, Data Explorers.

The two firms are part of a handful of mid-market buy-out groups that have joined the auction.

Explore, which offers Maths and English tutoring to five to 14 year-olds, has around 60 branches across the UK, with many housed in Sainsbury's supermarkets.

The concept of parents dropping off children for one-hour classes while they do the weekly shop has helped make the company increasingly popular with mothers and fathers and helped fuel its growth over the last decade.

It is hoped that the next investor will help increase the size of the company to more than 250 sites across the UK.

Founded in 2000 by its chief executive, Bill Mills, Explore's shareholders include Sir Peter Ogden, founder of Computacenter, and the Weston family, who are the owners of Selfridges.